Kitchen Confessions

Happy Earth Day/Week, Conscientious Food Consumers!

Our first-ever Recipe Contest featuring YOUR LEFTOVERS is a big success! Many thanks to everyone who participated. You ALL are winners in the No Food Left Behind movement!

We received 25 submissions for tasty, homey and creative meals, including ethnic and zero-waste-inspired dishes. Our contest chefs reported saving anywhere from $3-$20 with their recipes and prevented at-risk items like these from going into their compost bins or garbage carts:

• Carrot tops, cauliflower stems/leaves, wrinkly tomatoes, squash, kale, greens and other past-prime veggies;
• Leftover turkey, chicken, chicken bones and canned tuna fish;
• Leftover spaghetti, mashed potatoes, beans, macaroni, takeout rice;
• Bruised peaches, overripe bananas, even veggie pulp from the juicer;
• Year-old Valentine’s chocolates!
• Past “Use By” and “Best By” dated cans of tuna, packaged pancake mix,  packaged shredded coconut. (Note: see “Check before you chuck it,” about those dates on food containers and packaging.)

We had a lot of fun reviewing your wonderful submissions, and wished we could have doubled the number of Co-op gift cards for our drawing! Reminder: although we called it a “contest,” it was actually a random drawing — from a real straw hat.

CONGRATULATIONS to our Drawing Winners:

• AMY B., Leftover Chicken with Indian Spices
• MARVEL V., Sheetpan Noodle Soup
• VIRGINIA N., Mac-N-Leftover Squash-N-Cheese

Again, HUGE thanks to everyone who submitted! Your recipes will be listed on our NEW Leftover Recipes compilation page (under construction) and may also be shared on our NFLB Facebook page (“NFLBCorvallis”).

A FEW FAVES:

• Sue’s Tom Kha Gai (Thai Coconut Soup), combining the divine flavors of lemongrass, curry paste, coconut milk with leftover meat/veggies, served over leftover takeout rice;
• Sarah’s Always-Homemade Soup Stock from veggie scraps stored in the freezer;
• Leigh Ann’s Grits & Greens, making Southern comfort food with polenta and aging greens;
• Olin’s Olde Valentine Choco-Coco Cookies; and
• Donna’s Watermelon Rind Pickles and Carrot Top Pesto

NFLB STAFF RECIPES: Unbeknownst to one another, we both did something with tuna fish! (Note: staff recipes were not included in the drawing.)

Many of us have made nachos before, but what about Tuna Nachos? That’s what Jeanette, NFLB’s Director, was inspired to do. She says they were just as tasty as the conventional kind!

I was inspired by a childhood memory of “Fish Fridays” to make Tuna Patties with Picklejuice Crema, using a couple of “expired” cans of tuna in my pantry. Instead of standard tartar sauce, I used some juice from my favorite dill pickles that was left over in the jar after all the pickles were gone. (I’ll never throw pickle juice out again!)

CONGRATULATIONS again to our contest winners!

In our next Kitchen Confessions, we’ll highlight several zero-waste recipes from our drawing. The zero-waste approach in the kitchen utilizes even more parts of food and thus prevents more greenhouse gases. HAPPY EARTH DAY 2021!

 

Happy New Year, Conscientious Food Consumers!

We, the staff of Kitchen Confessions, would like to extend to you a virtual pat on the back for wasting less food at home during this historic past year. We know you did that because you’re reading this blog. And thanks, by the way!

You’re doing your part to address the ongoing and monumental problem of wasted food in the U.S. Unfortunately, there’s still much to be done.

Wasted food this past year totaled more than 40 million tons — about 219 pounds for every American!

Wasted Food = Wasted $$. As consumers, we wasted $5.6 billion in spending on food that was not eaten. Across all sectors (production, retail, and consumers) on a national scale, it represents a loss of $161 billion.

Thankfully, in 2015 the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) set a goal to reduce food waste by half by 2030. Oregon’s Governor Kate Brown, through the Department of Environmental Quality, has also committed our state to that goal.

So we’re all for wasting less in 2021, aren’t we, Conscientious Food Consumers? In 2020, the Kitchen Confessions staff worked hard on our own wasteful habits around food. Please enjoy our Top Takeaways!

TAKEAWAY #1:  More time in our own kitchens can mean less waste!

When we launched “Kitchen Confessions” last April, the COVID-19 pandemic had gotten real, and most of us were forced to shelter at home. As it turns out (and one of the hidden blessings of this pandemic), spending more time in our own kitchens has helped many of us become more conscious of our everyday food habits!

We’ve learned more about proper food storage techniques — using tools like the A-Z Fruit and Vegetable Storage Guide and the FDA’s Freezer Storage Chart and FoodKeeper app.

We’ve taken stock of what’s on hand and diligently done our record keeping of what’s in the fridge, freezer and pantry — using Smart Strategies like NFLB’s Freezer Inventory and Smart Shopping List. These are available in English and Spanish.

In that process, we’ve potentially wasted less of our planet’s precious resources, and saved more of our food dollars. Let’s keep it up!

TAKEAWAY #2:  Telling the truth to ourselves about how food gets wasted is a good thing.

Like we’ve done with our Kitchen Confessions this past year, you’ve become more observant about how once-edible food ended up in the compost bin or garbage can. But if you haven’t already done so, you can take your truth-telling to the next level with our downloadable DIY Wasted Food Discovery Week self-survey.

It’s not about guilt-tripping — just the bottom line. After this exercise, you may be amazed how much MORE you have to work with in your grocery budget in 2021, and how much LESS food goes to waste!

TAKEAWAY #3:  E.F.A.M. saves $$! (Karen’s Waste-Less Resolution)

That stands for Eat First Area(s) Management. Those handy little signs (like the one shown) are available in English and Spanish and they help. But I’ve realized the most important thing for me is keeping up with my new habits in the kitchen.

I’ve certainly had my share of guilt trips this past year, making public Kitchen Confessions! When I added up the $$ wasted from items described in this blog, it was nearly $100, and that doesn’t cover everything I wasted last year.

But that wasted $$ has been useful for motivating positive changes in my own kitchen. So more E.F.A.M. in my fridge and pantry in 2021!

TAKEAWAY #4:  Labeling, Labeling, Labeling! (Jeanette’s Waste-Less Resolution)

Marking the date food was prepped, opened, cooked or became leftovers… this new habit has been super helpful, before adding something to our Eat First! shelf. I also learned it works infinitely better in our fridge to label the front of those containers, not the top!

I also concur with Karen and plan to make a habit of  maintenance – it’s key! It’s way too easy for things to get buried, so, frequent check-ins with the shelf mean low-to-no waste.

TAKEAWAY #5:  It can be fun figuring out what to do with those items on your “Eat First” shelf!

If you’re like us, you’ve found some new mojo in “leftover land.”  You’ve whipped up some creative meals with those random leftovers and what-have-you items using your own inspiration, BigOven.com, or your favorite app.

Maybe your kids have even gotten into the spirit of “Freezer Fridays,” making Eat First rollups, or learning to stew up some of their own leftovers in a crockpot. Maybe you decided to start making your own bone or veggie broth with that rotisserie chicken bones and/or beet greens and carrot/celery tops!

Jeanette’s Joy of Cooking moment: I made some great soup stock out of a batch of soy/butter/garlic water left over from steaming organic broccoli, and my husband raved about it!

For continued inspiration during 2021, check out these great recipes for leftovers and zero kitchen waste from SaveTheFood.com.

TAKEAWAY #6:  Those “best by/use by” labels on food packaging aren’t the final word.

As explained in our “Check before you chuck it” blog, even if it’s past its packing date or lost its “shop appeal,” it’s likely to still be edible and safe. Fave relevant resources: StillTasty.com and the USDA’s FoodKeeper app.

TAKEAWAY #7:  Old-fashioned methods of food preservation and storage are back in style.

Interest in home canning and preservation surged during the first months of the pandemic, and has continued.

Kitchen Confessions often refers to the OSU Extension Service for everything related to food safety and preservation. Another valuable Extension Service resource for introducing kids to nutrition, good habits in the kitchen and easy recipes is FoodHero.org.

TAKEAWAY #8:  Meal portions are key to wasting less.  

And thanks to tools like “the Guestimator” from Savethefood.com, there’s no more “guesswork”! We featured it in one of our Thanksgiving blogs as the holiday food season got rolling — but it’s handy for regular meal planning year round, not just when you anticipate having guests at the table. Which will hopefully be back in 2021!

THE BIGGER PICTURE: You, Conscientious Food Consumer and Shopper, are part of a national and global movement!

There’s an amazing array of research and resources underpinning the food waste reduction movement in the U.S., particularly in the nonprofit ReFED’s landmark 2016 analysis: the Roadmap to Reduce U.S. Food Waste.

In 2017, Project Drawdown named reduced wasted food as its number three existing solution for reducing greenhouse gases and addressing the global climate change crisis.

We’re also following LoveFoodHateWaste in the U.K., where the first-ever national Food Waste Action Week is happening in early March 2021.

Thanks again to all of you who have discovered, followed, and perhaps even recommended our blog during the past year. You can also share Kitchen Confessions through our Facebook page, “NFLBCorvallis.”

Here’s to a better and less wasteful 2021 for all!